see also

“You’re kidding?” Barnicle responded. “Aleppo is in Syria. It’s the epicenter of the refugee crisis.”

“OK, got it, got it,” Johnson said, cutting off Barnicle from further explanation of Aleppo. “With regard to Syria, I do think that it is a mess. I think that the only way that we deal with Syria is to join hands with Russia to diplomatically bring that at an end.”

Johnson also went on to criticize US efforts to bring about “regime change.”

In a follow-up interview with Johnson, host Joe Scarborough unloaded on the former New Mexico governor: “You asked, ‘What is Aleppo?’ Do you really think that foreign policy is so insignificant that somebody running for president of the United States shouldn’t even know what Aleppo is?”

Johnson insisted he knows what’s going on in Aleppo and repeated the Libertarian Party’s stance against US foreign intervention.

“Aleppo … not knowing that there’s a city in between the two forces, really at the epicenter of the [battle], but not remembering or identifying that that’s Aleppo — guilty,” a flustered, gesticulating Johnson told Bloomberg Politics.

“I’m incredibly frustrated with myself for (not knowing more about Aleppo).”

Johnson’s campaign later issued a statement, in hopes of blunting the embarrassing gaffe.

“This morning, I began my day by setting aside any doubt that I’m human,” Johnson said in a statement. “Yes, I understand the dynamics of the Syrian conflict — I talk about them every day.”
Johnson explained that when he heard the word “Aleppo,” he thought it was an acronym.

“But hit with `What about Aleppo?’ I immediately was thinking about an acronym, not the Syrian conflict,” he said.

“I blanked. It happens, and it will happen again during the course of this campaign. Can I name every city in Syria? No. Should I have identified Aleppo? Yes. Do I understand its significance? Yes.”

Democrat Hillary Clinton was asked about Johnson’s misstep during a press conference in White Plains later in the morning, and she piled on.

“Well, you can look on the map and find Aleppo,” the smiling former secretary of state said, without elaborating.